The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-01-27


islands OF the Indian Archipelago, Mala-
bar, etc.; it is called by naturaIists the
edible bat, and is said to be white, ten
der and delicate; but, for all that, it is
a hideous beast, like a weasel, with a
ten-inch body, covered with close and
shining black hair, and with four-feet
wings, when stretched to their full ex-
tent.
Iu some countries even the fox is con-
sidered delicacy; in the Arctic regions,
where fresh meat is scarce, when Judi
ciously made into a pie, it is considered
equal to any rabbit, under the same
conditions, ever bred on the Sussex
downs. But, strange to say. the Esqui-
mau dogs, which will devour almost
every thing else, will not touch fox.
Cats and dogs readily find purchasers
and consumers in China, where they
are hung up in the butchers shops, to-
gether with badgers tasting like wild
boar-and other oddities of food.
In the South Seas, too. dog is a
favorite dish, and a puppy stew is
royal feast in Zanzibar; but it is only
fair to say that where dog is eaten it
is especially fattened for the table and
fed only on milk and such like cleanly
diet. The Australian native dog, or
dingo, is eaten by the blacks, but by no
one else; and South African will give
a cow for good-sized mastiff. The
American panther and the wildcat of
Louisiana are said to be excellent eat
ing; so is the puma, which is so like
veal in flavor that one hardly knows
the difference. Lions flesh, too. is
almost identical with veal in color,
taste and texture. Bears paws were
long a German delicacy, and the flesh
is held equal or superior to pork, the
fat being as white as snow. The
tongue and hams are cured, but the
head is accounted worthless and
thrown away. The badger tastes
like wild boar The Australian
kangaroo. is, not much inferior to
venison, and kangaroo-tail soup is bet
ter than half the messes which pass in
London under the name of ox-tail
soup. flashed wallaby is dish no
one need disdain, and there is a small
species of kangaroo as good as any
hare ever cooked. An Australian ma
tive banquet is an odd mixture. Kan
garoo and wallaby, opossums and fly
ing squirrels. kangaroo rats, wombats
and bandicoots represent the pieces de
resistance, while. rats. mice, snakes,
snails, large white maggots. worms
and sgrubs form the little dishes and
most favored entrees. A nice, fat
marmot is a treat-why not9 They
are quite pure feeders.
The muskrat of Martinique is eaten,
though indescribably loathsome to a
European; but the slick rats of the su-
gar cane plantations make one of the
most delicate fricassees imaginable. SO
tender, plump, cleanly and luscious
are they. The Chinese are in rat
paradise in California, where the rats
are enormously large. highly favored
and very abundant, rat-soup being
considered by all right-minded Celes-
tials to, beat ox-tail or gravy soup hol-
low. The Indians eat the beaver.
which is said to be like pork, and por-
cupine is fine favorite with the Dutch
and Hottentots of the Cape, and with
the Hudson Bay trappers, and, indeed,
with all the inhabitants of the countries
| where the creature is found, the flesh
being good and delicate, and, more
over, accounted exceedingly nutritious
Elephants feet, picked in strong
| toddy vinegar and cayenne pepper, are
| considered in Ceylon an Apician lux
ury. The trunk is said to resemble
buffalo's hump, and the fat is so highly
priced by the Bushmen that they will
go almost any distance for it. Hippo
potamus fat is also considered treat
When salted it is thought superior to
our breakfast bacon, and the flesh il
both palatable and nutritious, the fa
being used for all the ordinary uses o.
butter. Birds are of large Importance
in the supplies of human food, and no
only birds, but birds nests as well, a
least with the Chinese, whose daintiei
are always peculiar. These nests are
brought from Java and Sumatra, ane
are like fibrous, ill-concocted isinglass
inclining to red, about the size OF ;
goose's egg and as thick as a silvel
spoon. When dry they are brittle ane
wrinkled and worth twice their weigh
! in. silver. This nest, which is of thu
sea swallow (Hirundo esculenta). is th'
only edible one known. Many are tn,
delicious morsels afforded by birds
The heccatico in the fig season; th'
bronze-winged pigeon of Australia
when the acacia seeds are ripe; tn
young, fat hideous diablotin or goat
sucker, if taken when atender nesting
and the same bird, when Older, if takel
when the palms are in fruit; the rice
bird, of South Carolina, when the ric
is ripening; and the ortolan, mere luml
of idealized fat that it is-these ar
among the most celebrated of tn
smaller, tid-bits, not forgetting tn
snipe, the quail and the woodcock Q
our own land.
| Some people eat insects. the grub Q
the palm weevil being held in muc
favor in the East and West Indies, an
the grubs of most beetles in some othe
quarters of the glole. The Moors thin
fine, fat locust superior even
pigeon, and the Hottentots make sou
of their eggs. The thrifty Chinese frs
wind off the cocoon. and then send tn
!: chrysalis of the silk-worm to the table
Spiders are delieacies of the desel
kind to the Bushmen, snails also hay